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Move Faster

When you lift weights slowly, your body uses only whatever muscle
fibers are necessary. As those fibers fatigue, others take their place,
while the first ones recover and wait to return to action—it's sort
of a tag-team effort. So if you're doing 10 slow repetitions, a fiber
might work for the first three or four repetitions, be replaced by
another, and then recover to contribute on the final two or three
repetitions of your set. This limits the number of muscle fibers you're
using, unless you're lifting near maximal weights.

The fix:
Lift light weights fast. "Trying to move a weight as fast as you can
forces your body to recruit more muscle fibers," says Craig Ballantyne,
C.S.C.S., author of Turbulence Training. This will help you improve
strength quickly, while challenging your muscles in a different way
than heavy weights.

Examples: For exercises like
the bench press, use a weight that's about 40 to 55 percent of the
heaviest weight you can lift one time. Do six to eight sets of three to
five repetitions, resting for 60 seconds between sets.

Note: Sometimes you need to overhaul your routine to get your body to the next level. Men's Health Personal Trainer
provides a multitude of programs to choose from, as well as
customization options to keep your body from getting bored. Kick your
routine into gear and join today.